Shooter
by asouthernsoul
Summary: Plausible AU. Jo's niece, Emery, who's in town for fall break, becomes a hostage after a man opens fire on the fifth floor of St. Thomas Mercy Hospital.


Chapter One

Jo stretched her legs out on her couch as she smiled into the phone. "I can't wait to have dinner with you tonight, even though I'm sure you could think of a hundred different ways to spend your Friday evening."

"Oh hush, you know I'm just as excited to see you."

"Are you? Are you _really_? "

"You know I am, Aunt Jo! It's been far too long!"

Jo smiled; she was so excited to see her niece. "I know baby girl, just think, you get to spend the next five days with me!"

"Oh, so that's supposed to get me excited," Emery teased.

"I knew it! You don't want to spend fall break with me." Jo pouted into the phone and was pretty sure Emery could _hear_ her pouting.

Emery rolled her eyes. "Will you quit pouting?" Jo grinned cheekily, even though Emery couldn't see it.

"So, when are you gonna get here? I'm just dying with anticipation!"

Emery rolled her eyes, again. "What is with you today? First you use your pouty voice and now you're using your whiny voice."

"What? I can't be excited to see my baby girl! Like you said, it's been too long."

Emery chuckled. "I'm just teasin' you, Aunt Jo."

"You still haven't answered my question, little lady, _when_ are you gonna get here?"

"I'm about to leave the hospital, I'm almost at the elevators."

"Why were you at the hospital? Are you okay?"

Emery smiled, her aunt's concern for her safety was endearing and since her father was behind bars and her mother left when she was a baby, Jo was one of the only adults left in her life. "I'm at St. Thomas. I was visiting my friend who was in that car accident I told you about the last time we spoke."

It was like a light bulb had gone off in Jo's head. One of Emery's friends had been hit by a drunk driver over the weekend. "Oh, that's right, your friend who goes to NYU. What was her name, Audrey, right, the art student?"

Emery loved her aunt's ability to pay attention to detail and she imagined that was made her such a great investigator. "You were off by a letter, Aubrey's her name," Emery corrected, "but yes, you're right."

Jo made a mental note: _Aubrey_. "Aubrey, right, sorry, how is she doing?"

"Better," Emery said carefully, "looks like she'll be in here for the next couple of days though."

Jo sighed. She could tell Emery didn't really want to talk about the visit and she wasn't going to push. She couldn't imagine what went through Emery's brain finding out her best friend was in the hospital after being hit by a drunk driver, at least it was better than how most drunk driving accidents usually turned out. "I'm sorry, baby, I'm so glad to hear she's doing better though." Emery smiled. "So am I."

Suddenly, the sound of a man's shouts and gun fire rang out throughout the hospital corridor of the fifth floor, followed by the horrified screams of the medical personnel, patients and visitors. "E," Jo said frantically, "was that gunfire? What's going on?" Emery didn't answer. "Emery!"

Emery frantically looked around the sea of people to see where the source of the gunshots was coming from. She saw a scruffy looking man in a plaid shirt and dark jeans coming down the hallway, he had a gun in his hand. Emery's eyes widened and she quickly ducked for cover behind the nurses' station, praying that she had only seen him and he hadn't seen her. She crawled on her hands and knees a couple of feet, phone still in hand, until she found shelter under the cover of the desk. "There's a shooter on the loose," she whispered shakily.

Jo gripped the phone tightly and launched herself off the couch, starting to pace around the house. She ran a hand through her hair. "I want you to stay on the line, you hear me?"

Emery leaned her head back against the desk and nodded her head. "Yes ma'am," she whispered.

"Alright, baby, I'm going to put the phone down for a minute. I'm gonna make a few calls. Just hang tight for me."

Emery nodded and swallowed hard, trying to get rid of the lump forming in throat, unfortunately, the lump only grew bigger. She heard Jo talking in the background and tried to focus on the sound of her voice, it had always soothed her. She could hear the fear and frenzy in her voice and it did anything but soothe her, in fact, it put her on alert, made her heart race.

"Alright!" A man's deep, commanding voice boomed above her, it was the shooter's voice and he was standing very close to her. She was terrified. She didn't even try to get Jo's attention; instead she disconnected the call and started to text her. "I want any of you who are still on this floor, to come out from hiding! Now!" Emery heard the shuffling of feet and knew what she had to do; she stuffed her phone in her jacket pocket, blew out a breath and slowly crawled out from under the desk. When she stood up she was face to face with the shooter and his gun. She held her hands up, palms out, "don't shoot," she croaked, "don't shoot."


End file.
